Nippon-Ham outfielder Chusei Mannami (25) held a private training session at the team's second-division facility in Kamagaya, Chiba, on the 8th. During practice, he worked on the "A-rod batting style," which involves hitting high balls from above. In addition to improving his strength, he has also changed his bat, aiming for a great season.

He repeatedly slammed high balls that he could hit from the front. He has been working on hitting off a tee since fall training. "It's easy to check the bat trajectory I'm thinking of. Even if I'm thinking of hitting from that high, if the power output increases, it will naturally come down and become flatter," he explained.

The "radish cutting" practice seems to go against the times. He was also encouraged by a video of A. Rodriguez, who played for the Yankees and other teams. "It seems like he was practicing hitting all the high balls with one bounce." It was an era when movements were rarely quantified like they are today. "In a time when data was not yet developed, I thought the conclusions that people like that reached were very important intuitions."

He has strengthened his power through muscle training, and his bat has been lengthened by 0.75 inches (approximately 1.9 cm) to 34.25 inches (approximately 87 cm), and the weight has increased by about 30 grams to 910 grams. "My biggest goal is to hit a high fastball at 155 or 160 km/h." He will prove his worth as an artist with the style he believes in. (Yamaguchi Yasushi)

◆Alex Rodriguez Nicknamed A-Rod, he boasts a career total of 3,115 hit and 696 Home Run the majors. He was selected first overall by the Mariners in the 1993 draft and made his major league debut in 1994. In 1996, he won his first title as batting hitter with a batting average of .358. In 1998, he achieved a "40-40" record with 42 Home Run and 46 stolen base. He subsequently played for the Rangers and Yankees. In total, he was the batting hitter once, Home Run champion five times, and RBI champion twice.